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What JLARC has finally noticed is that most of the public schools in the state including VCU, JMU,and ODU are financing $20M to $30M athletic budgets on the backs of student fees (75% of athletic budgets are from student fees). The poster boy for bad behavior is Paul Hewitt who has the the highest salary of any state employee in the state. There is $1.1T student loan debt and every graduate has about $27K. Much of that money is borrowed from off shore sources. In addition to the loans federal Pell grants fuel a large amount of additional debt. At VCU, the average loan and grant debt to those who qualify is greater than tuition and a large % of students qualify. The forecast of bad debt on on secured student debt is very high. Eventually someone is going to have to pay for the excesses. This is a train wreck that could make the housing bubble look tame because there is no collateral. Getting universities to live within their means is JLARC and the GA's job.

I guess you didn't feeling like mentioning that Harris was once a head coach?

Re: new basketball director of operations, Robert Harris - "He spent the last year as Charlottesville High School’s director of activities."

I mean, I get it. It helps increase the snark factor of your post exponentially. However, for accuracy's sake, it might also be worth mentioning that the DOBO job is one that requires a variety of skills (many of which are markedly different than that of an assistant coach) and is also a position that someone with a varied background in DIII head coaching and administration would be very well suited for. Also, here's an idea..."Welcome, Robert! Glad you're a Hokie!" What ever happened to that?

Agreed. I have been saying for a while that the salary issue is coming from above JW. What Buy These says about JLARC may be true, but there was also a reason that it took Paul Torgerson and not Steger to keep Beamer at VT.

Originally Posted by Buy These!

Actually, I understand JW is frustrated beyond belief with the downward pressure being put on salaries from over his head. This is coming from the President's Office, the BOV, often both. He may be about ready to let someone else fight these battles.

There is a big JLARC study on tuition and fees about to be published that is rightly (IMO) very critical of Athletic Student Fees, and it will be used to attack Athletics statewide. However, as I understand it, the report did not bother to highlight that VT has kept its fees incredibly low, and that all recent increases to the VT fee have been applied to Athlete Academic Advising, it just throws all the state schools under the bus together.

(Planned briefing: June 10, 2013)
House Joint Resolution 108 (2012) directs JLARC to study the academic
and non-academic factors affecting the cost of higher education operations
at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. The mandate also directs
JLARC to identify opportunities to reduce the cost of public education in
Virginia. The mandate cites increases in tuition and State spending for
higher education, as well as concern about affordability and student loan
debt levels.
This review is intended to provide broad context for the subsequent reviews
of specific aspects of higher education to follow during the remainder
of 2013 and 2014. It will summarize ten- and 20-year trends in key areas
of public higher education in Virginia and nationally. Trends will be
examined in (1) enrollment; (2) tuition and fees, housing, and dining
charges, (3) the relationship between average income and higher education
costs, (4) student borrowing and other forms of financial aid; (5) public
higher education revenue streams, and (6) public higher education spending.

With losing record at a nearby Div III school-then activities director at a nearby HS

Originally Posted by I love VT!

I mean, I get it. It helps increase the snark factor of your post exponentially. However, for accuracy's sake, it might also be worth mentioning that the DOBO job is one that requires a variety of skills (many of which are markedly different than that of an assistant coach) and is also a position that someone with a varied background in DIII head coaching and administration would be very well suited for. Also, here's an idea..."Welcome, Robert! Glad you're a Hokie!" What ever happened to that?

The point has nothing to do with being 'snarky.' Many posts here have dealt with the question of whether the athletic department gives any real priority to the basketball program. This particular hire is not a big time hire. It's an OK hire for a Shenandoah Valley school which wants to get hiring for that job over without a lot of pain, travelling to interview and outlay. It's an OK hire for any college along 81 in the Valley.

I'm sure Harris is a nice guy, and I hope he enjoys his stay at Tech. It is not a big time hire, however, and is more fodder to feed the skepticism concerning how the AD views the basketball program.

You know and I know, if we'd be honest about it, that a serious title contender in the Big 10, Big 12, Big East or the ACC wouldn't hire him as their director of basketball operations. I'm not even sure he'd get an interview, when the best he could parlay his Div III college coaching job into was a High School job not even dealing exclusively with athletics. Setting up High School proms and graduation exercises are important, but ----. We've gotta be a little clear-eyed and realistic about this stuff.

But, again, I'm sure he's a nice guy, and I hope he enjoys his stay here.

The point has nothing to do with being 'snarky.' Many posts here have dealt with the question of whether the athletic department gives any real priority to the basketball program. This particular hire is not a big time hire. It's an OK hire for a Shenandoah Valley school which wants to get hiring for that job over without a lot of pain, travelling to interview and outlay. It's an OK hire for any college along 81 in the Valley.

I'm sure Harris is a nice guy, and I hope he enjoys his stay at Tech. It is not a big time hire, however, and is more fodder to feed the skepticism concerning how the AD views the basketball program.

You know and I know, if we'd be honest about it, that a serious title contender in the Big 10, Big 12, Big East or the ACC wouldn't hire him as their director of basketball operations. I'm not even sure he'd get an interview, when the best he could parlay his Div III college coaching job into was a High School job not even dealing exclusively with athletics. Setting up High School proms and graduation exercises are important, but ----. We've gotta be a little clear-eyed and realistic about this stuff.

But, again, I'm sure he's a nice guy, and I hope he enjoys his stay here.

How, exactly, does one go about making a "big time" DOBO hire? It's an administrative position, are you looking for an MBA? Guess what, Harris has one. Experience managing a Basketball travel itinerary? Guess what, D-III Head Coaches have to do that for themselves, and he did it for a dozen years. Experience with compliance? The man has been an AD and a head coach.

Arguing about whether a DOBO hire is "big time" enough is way off the silly scale IMO. If I am JJ I am looking for someone who handles all the details so I can focus on coaching. Sort of like John Ballein does for Beamer. Frank hired Ballein out of Western Branch high school in the late 1980's and he has been a key cog in the program ever since. Was that big time? My guess is that is the model on which JJ based this hire, because he has been studying Beamer's success closely.

Well va only contributes only 12 percent of the university revenue at UVA only 3 percent . If the state does not want to invest in the future just let these schools go private .. Actually UVA has a
Studied it and do have the where with all with endowments to make it happen ...

How, exactly, does one go about making a "big time" DOBO hire? It's an administrative position, are you looking for an MBA? Guess what, Harris has one. Experience managing a Basketball travel itinerary? Guess what, D-III Head Coaches have to do that for themselves, and he did it for a dozen years. Experience with compliance? The man has been an AD and a head coach.

Arguing about whether a DOBO hire is "big time" enough is way off the silly scale IMO. If I am JJ I am looking for someone who handles all the details so I can focus on coaching. Sort of like John Belein does for Beamer. Frank hired Belein out of Western Branch high school in the late 1980's and he has been a key cog in the program ever since. Was that big time? My guess is that is the model on which JJ based this hire, because he has been studying Beamer's success closely.

You mean you haven't seen ESPN's DoBO rankings for potential hires?!? Harris was like #245 on that list! And we lost out on the Top 2 from the state of Virginia! One of those guys went out of state because he was able to take sugar cookies to work! This is a catastrophe!

Quick...from memory ...name me a "big time" DOBO .

Heck, just name me ANY DOBO at another program...again, without internet assistance. I am quite clear eyed and realistic about the state of the basketball program...but that includes a recognition that not EVERYTHING is broken and not EVERYONE is somehow incompetent or inferior by association.

Originally Posted by nova1111

The point has nothing to do with being 'snarky.' Many posts here have dealt with the question of whether the athletic department gives any real priority to the basketball program. This particular hire is not a big time hire. It's an OK hire for a Shenandoah Valley school which wants to get hiring for that job over without a lot of pain, travelling to interview and outlay. It's an OK hire for any college along 81 in the Valley.

I'm sure Harris is a nice guy, and I hope he enjoys his stay at Tech. It is not a big time hire, however, and is more fodder to feed the skepticism concerning how the AD views the basketball program.

You know and I know, if we'd be honest about it, that a serious title contender in the Big 10, Big 12, Big East or the ACC wouldn't hire him as their director of basketball operations. I'm not even sure he'd get an interview, when the best he could parlay his Div III college coaching job into was a High School job not even dealing exclusively with athletics. Setting up High School proms and graduation exercises are important, but ----. We've gotta be a little clear-eyed and realistic about this stuff.

But, again, I'm sure he's a nice guy, and I hope he enjoys his stay here.

this has less to do with money than who you are hitching your star to IMO. How many quality people want to uproot their families for a couple of years until a new AD and likely a new basketball coach are hired that will surely bring in their own team?